On one wall in the defensive team meeting room are photos of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and coach Urban Meyer with the score "Fla 49, UGA 10." And on the other, Georgia Tech players celebrating with pieces of Sanford Stadium's hedges and the score "Ga Tech 45, UGA 42."

"Do you Remember the Feeling?" is the question posed.

How could they not? Even the November dates of the humbling losses to Georgia's archrivals are listed there as well.

A looming date surely circled on the calendar of Bulldogs' fans is displayed in the Bulldogs' weight room: "Oct. 31, 2009 GEORGIA VS. FLORIDA," along with Gators and Bulldogs logos.

"It's definitely by no means on the backburner," senior offensive lineman Vince Vance said of the monster matchups. "It's one of the things we talk about almost every day. It's very important for us. It's some of the biggest games of our season. We are going to come to play this year. We're looking forward to it."

And Vance didn't even play in last year's Florida and Georgia Tech games. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the sixth game.

When the wounds were still fresh from the 2008 season, offensive coordinator Mike Bobo spoke about how the Georgia Tech loss left the Bulldogs with a "sick feeling in all of our stomachs."

That game - when the Bulldogs gave up 26 straight third-quarter points - and the beatdown against Florida have provided plenty of incentive as the Bulldogs head into 2009.

"It's definitely motivation just to let us know when we look back at those games to know what caused the losses, the lack of execution, the lack of discipline, things like that," linebacker Rennie Curran said. "In terms of the future, just not to let those same things happen again or those losses will repeat themselves."

Defensive end Rod Battle said players aren't doing a specific number of repetitions in workouts based on points or yards allowed like Florida did last summer.

The Gators did 42 repetitions on every weight station and 188 sit-ups, push-ups and crunches during workouts to mark the 188 rushing yards that Knowshon Moreno had in Georgia's 42-30 victory in 2007.

Georgia Tech players listed beating Georgia as one of their primary goals entering last season. Now Georgia wants payback after its first loss to Georgia Tech since 2000.

"That's good; it's expected," second-year Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said. "That's what a rivalry is about. It should be exciting. ... I don't have any doubt we're going to get their best shot. They're going to get ours, too."

Oklahoma State will get Georgia's first shot on Sept. 5 in Stillwater.

Georgia coach Mark Richt has to balance getting his team prepared for that formidable road test while his players also are driven by the Florida and Georgia Tech games.

"You hope it motivates our guys," Richt said. "Just knowing you play those guys every year is certain motivation. Also when we start the year, we're going to play a top-10 team the first game, a team that will be favored over us I'm certain.

"We're at their place, they'll be ranked higher than us. That's pretty strong motivation, too. Right now I'm to the point where I have to begin focusing on the most important thing, and that's the first game. That's kind of where my mind's going. Not to say we don't look at the big picture because we do most of the offseason. If I address the team in any way, we're talking about Game No. 1."

"We definitely hear it from the coaches and hear it from each other, just to not let something like that happen again, especially in the case of Tech," Curran said. "It's just heart-wrenching when you work so hard and you get to the game and things like the lack of execution and missed tackles cause you to get beat even though you might be the better team."

Georgia will get its second shot at Tech's triple-option offense, but Johnson said that is hardly a cure-all.

"We've been doing this offense for what 26 years?" Johnson said of an offense he employed as head coach at the Naval Academy and Georgia Southern. "They've got 26 years of film, not just one. We'll see. We played the same teams at Georgia Southern for the five years I was there, and we won the league every year. I think if you look at points per game, we probably got better each year. They're going to get better defending. We're going to get better running it too, I hope."

There, of course, is still plenty of summer ahead just for the season to get here, let alone Florida and Tech.

"It definitely has been emphasized, but I think when you look at the schedule, you kind of cross that bridge when you get there," Battle said. "We can't really get too hyped up. It's in the back of your head but you've got to patiently wait to get there."